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The Last Dragon
Inside the Stuthbert family tomb, battle erupts between our brave chosen heroes and the soldiers of the Word. Highly trained castle guards form a wall of swords and shields, the clank of metal boots on stone can be heard from the upper levels of the castle, while the priests make their way to the altar and start some sort of divine ritual. The battle is hard fought: the guards encircle Denton, who draws their attention long enough for Dirk and Irving to get past and head for the priests. Grub, Bundly and Connor slowly disable the guards through magic, cunning, and good old fashioned brute force, but not without some substantial injuries. Though the priest’s spell is delayed by Connor’s magic, he eventually completes the ritual, summoning a horde of tiny creatures made of light that attack the party. Fortunately, the shadow lantern found at the Crown of the World proves a potent counter, and Dirk and Irving are able to fell the heavily armored priest. With only moments before reinforcements arrive, the party quickly avails themself of a scroll of healing found amongst the altar, and head through the illusory door behind the stained glass discovered by Irving. There, they are surprised to feel a cool breeze, see natural light ahead and the sound of water crashing onto rocks. The tunnel eventually reaches a stone walkway along the outside of of the white cliffs of Carrick Mor, open to the ocean far below. About 25 feet away is a rock platform jutting out of the water, atop which are three creatures. A great reptilian beast, it’s purple scales faded, worn and scratched. A deep scar runs from his the top of his chest down his belly and across his side. Sagramour, the lion companion of the famed lion knight Bruenor, sleeps beside the dragon, contently nuzzled up against the crook of it’s arm. A third figure, dressed like the other priests of the word but also wearing a metallic mask, tends to a particularly sickly looking patch of scales on the dragon’s flank, rubbing in some sort of ointment. Not yet noticed, our heroes hatch a brilliant strategy that will surely be the subject of historical military textbooks and lectures for generations to come: they gather their rope and tie it to Grub in bat form, who ties the rope to the cliff wall and the platform, creating a zipline for our intrepid adventurers. A few moments later, Dirk, Irving and Grub are plummeting towards the ocean, Connor and Bundly are dazed by the priest’s magic, while Denton is flanked by the priest and an angry lion. The priest reveals his knowledge of the parties activities, particularly when it comes to gathering the remaining deities. Declaring that they’ve spent too much time keeping the divine beings down for them to ruin it now, the battle continues. During the battle, the priest seems to spare Bundly, expressing an interest in the strange magical being he has become. He frees the dragon from it’s chains, directing it to attack the party. Grub falls victim to the beasts ferocious bite, losing an arm, and Bundly is knocked unconscious by a mighty tail slap. Connor sneaks around the back of the dragon and uses his telepathy to communicate with the beast, discovering something unexpected: the dragon plays host to two minds: Gharrah, the last descendant of the dragon god Akeyza, ally of Maile Genero; and Breunor the Lion knight, sworn servant of King Stuthbert and supposed slayer of Gharrah during the crusades. Both minds battle for supremacy of the body, but Gharrah’s mind is beat down and weak, Breunor rules here with little resistance. Connor is able to fight Breunor for control of the source of the spell fusing the two minds, just long enough for Gharrah to step in and seize control… for now. With a mighty bite from Gharrah, the priest disappears from the shoulders up, but instead of flesh and blood a strange blue mist erupts from the body and creeps along the platform, rolling over the edge and dissipating into the winds below. Meanwhile, Irving subdues Sagramour and the rest of the party try to calm the angry and confused dragon, eventually settling him down. Gharrah thanks the party for their aid, and explains his situation. Gharrah and Breunor fought to the bitter end during the crusades, both being mortally wounded. Nabopolassar, leader of the Forlorn, used his magics to bind the two souls into one body, saving them both from death, but simply moving their eternal battle to a new front. Since then Gharrah has been kept under close watch, subdued by his Forlorn keepers, Breunor occasionally using the dragon’s shapeshifting magic to make appearances as the knight of Glenroth. Although Gharrah’s struggle continues, with Connor’s help he should be able to retain control for now. If they wish to find a permanent solution, he suggests travelling to the long lost ruins of Nabopolassar university, as seen in the translated Methian tapestries, where the vast sum of his knowledge was kept. He offers to assist the party as he can in the meantime, and they fly upon his back away from Carrick Mor and into the sunset…. 'TO BE CONTINUED…?'